Section 2(3) in The Statutory Investigation Into Railway Accidents Rules, 1998
(3)However, for any accident the Chief Commissioner may either hold the inquiry himself or direct any Commissioner of Railway Safety to do so.Explanation .-The inquiry under this rule shall be obligatory only in those cases where the passengers, killed or grievously hurt were travelling in the train carrying passengers. If an accident involving a train carrying passengers leads to loss of life or grievous injury to any Railway Servant(s) irrespective of whether he was travelling in that passenger train or not, inquiry under this rule shall be obligatory. However, if a person being a railway servant or holding valid pass or ticket or otherwise travelling outside the Rolling Stock of a Passenger train (such as on footboard or roof or buffers but excluding the inside of vestibules between coaches) is killed or grievously hurt, or is run over at a level crossing or elsewhere on the railway track, an inquiry under this rule shall not be obligatory. Similarly, if in a collision between a road vehicle and a passenger train at a level crossing, no passenger in the train is killed or grievously hurt, it shall not be obligatory to hold an inquiry. For the purpose of this rule, workmen's trains or ballast trains or Material trains or Accident Relief Trains or Tower wagons or such other trains carrying workmen or cattle specials/Military specials carrying authorised escorts or similar such trains shall also be treated as Passenger trains and in the event of a workman or escort being killed or grievously hurt as a result of an accident to the train, an inquiry under this rule shall be obligatory.
